How Clint Beat Cancer

Clint needs a way out for Annie, a way that might be the death of him...

Submitted:Oct 24, 2008
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"Are you okay???" shouted Mark "The ambulance is on its way, lay
still, don't move" he ordered in a shaking yet firm voice. Clint
lay on the ground, blood oozing out his stomach, he was conscious
and coherent and surprisingly calm. Clint placed his hand on his
wound and applied pressure to relieve the bleeding. Lucky for
Clint he was physically fit, his body was a fighting machine,
sculpted and muscular. Mark asked Clint how this happened? Where
were the people that shot him? Mark and Clint were close friends
and Mark wanted to inflict a revenge on the perpetrators of this
assault that had hit so close to home.

Clint asked Mark to stay with him and let their fellow officers
search for the people. The three officers standing around got the
message and moved off into the bushes to look for the people who
had done this. Mark asked Clint how many times he had been shot,
"Once" he replied. Mark started asking questions about where he
was when the shot was fired, why did he not have his firearm
drawn, why was he alone in the bush… Clint took offence to all
the questions, "Why are you interrogating me? I am the victim
here", Mark apologised and said that he was in shock and was not
really sure what to do and this was the first time he had been
faced with someone he knew being in a life threatening situation.

Clint and Mark had been house friends for over 10 years now and
worked together when they could, their friendship because
stronger when Clint found out that he had cancer. Although they
were employed by the police department, the medical aid that they
were on did not cover what they termed inherited illnesses, so
basically he was covered for the less serious treatments. Clint
was a renowned Kick boxer and he had been to the far east to
compete in competitions. He was also directly involved in self
defence training for his fellow officers. He was a person that so
many people looked up to, how and why was this happening to him,
why why why???

While Mark was comforting Clint they both heard the ambulance
coming, that familiar sound they had heard so many times before.
This time the sound was coming for them. They knew that no amount
of comforting words would be able to relieve the pain, they used
these comforting words on so many people they attended during
their duties that it became almost like a sermon "Hang in there,
the ambulance is almost here, they are going to take care of you,
you are going to be fine, lay still…" the words were actually
used to bring comfort to them as they were not doctors and could
not relieve the pain. Now one of them was laying helpless on the
ground, what was to be said?

Mark stood up when the paramedics arrived, he gave them space to
work on his friend. They opened his shirt and found the small
black hole that was leaking. With every breath the hole got black
and deep, it looked like it was alive, then with the exhale of
that breath the hole would get shallow and expel blood, it seemed
that although the hole was alive it was starting to die, and die
slowly. Mark prayed for his friend, he was having an uphill
battle looking at his friend. He knew that this was possible the
beginning of the end. No one ever spoke of it, except around the
BBQ with a few beers in the hand, the shot placement was a
terrible reality.

They were both trained by a guy called Cookies, he was aptly
named, he weighed in at around 120Kg's and had a love for all
food not only cookies, he was surprisingly fit. He was the
firearm trainer, in fact he was so accurate that there was talk
of his giving a circumcision to a fly on the target at 10m with a
9mm pistol. Cookies always told the people he trained it you want
to kill someone and not get charged for the murder, shoot him in
the stomach. This is the only place in the body that will heal
long enough to get him through the court case proving that your
intention was not to kill him, but after a few month he will
start going in and out the hospital until they have removed most
of the stomach and when he is weak, the dismal condition of the
government hospitals would insure a short battle with a painful
infection and then death, a total process of around 18 months.

There he lay, Clint urged the paramedics to give him something
for the pain. The paramedics said that they were going to
incubate him, this was an extreme pain killer, one used on
serious patients. The incubation meant that he would be rendered
unconscious and would not know anything until he was awakened in
hospital as few days later after all the operations and medical
attention had been carried out, or if things went wrong this
would be the last time that he would fall asleep. Clint called
Mark closer "please tell Annie that I love her, I will be alright
and she must not worry" Mark had forgotten about Annie, the
situation had put blinkers on him, the immediate situation was
the priority he felt, but he knew he had to get hold of her.

After Clint was incubated and loaded into the ambulance Mark left
and went straight to Annie's work place, he did not want a
stranger going there and telling her what had happened. Arriving
at her work, he entered the door as calmly as he could, he kept
saying to himself that he must remain calm and that would calm
her, he tried to break a smile when he made eye contact with her.
She smiled back for a second and then blurted out "What has
happened? Where is Clint, WHERE IS HE…?" Mark could not
understand how she knew so instinctively that something had
happened. Mark had tried to keep a straight face, how was this
possible. She started shouting now, because he was not giving the
answers she demanded "WHERE IS HE, is that Clint's blood on
you???" oh crap he thought the blood, that would remove any doubt
from that story he was about to tell her that he was in trouble.

He calmed her down as best he could, saying that she must come
with him to the hospital and he would tell her everything. In the
car she was surprisingly silent while Mark explained what he knew
about the incident. Mark told her that Clint had told him he was
going to meet with an informer just outside of town and that they
should split up. It was for a case that they were close to
cracking and needed all the information they could get. He was
gone for around an hour when the two way radio's silence was
broken with Clint's voice requesting immediate assistance. Not
long after that he came on the airwaves again saying he had been
shot.

Mark was first on the scene and found his empty patrol car in the
street, there was no one in site. Suddenly there was another
shot. With that more officers arrived and they split up into the
surrounding bush looking for Clint and the person who had shot
him. Mark found Clint and told the rest of them to keep
searching. Annie was shocked that he would go out alone, Mark and
Clint were like the brothers and never left each others side
while on duty. "Why today" she kept asking out loud.

The last month or so Clint had been acting strange, continually
on the internet researching the insides of the body. Every time
Annie asked him what he was doing he would say he was looking at
the organs and where the cancer was in his at the moment. He was
devastated that the organisation that he had dedicated his life
to for over 10 years would leave him to die like that. He had
never taken a bribe, had a great arrest record and had in 10
years take only 4 sick days, that was for an ingrown toe nail. He
was probably the most liked and respected officer in the
department.

At the hospital, Mark took Annie to the ward where Clint was. He
was not there when they arrived and both their frantic enquiries
got them the answer that he was in theatre. They waited and
waited, about two hours past before the doctor came out to see
them. The doctor said that everything was fine and although Clint
was not out of the woods yet he should make a good recovery.
Annie went in to see him and then later Mark. Clint strained
himself and asked Mark to come closer, he wanted to ask him
something. Mark came closer and Clint whispered in his ear
"Please my….. buddy do me a favour… my shirt… my… my shirt… go
get my…. Shirt… take it home for me …please do that for
me…please..plea…", Clint's eyes closed and the wondered off into
dreamland.

His shirt of all things, Mark thought it was the drugs kicking in
but then again, when he was all well and recovered he would
probably want the shirt to frame and hang up behind his bar as a
memento. Mark made sure that Annie was okay and that she had a
lift home. He left the hospital and went back to the scene where
Clint had been shot. There he walked around looking for anything
that might have been missed by the detectives after he had left,
there laying next to the used wrappers of needles and other
sterile medical dressing was his shirt. Mark held it up and
looked at the hole, a perfect hole, not much bigger than the one
that was on his friends stomach.

Mark felt uneasy carrying this piece of clothing, just hours ago
Clint's healthy body was wrapped in it and after a split second a
boiling hot piece of lead covered in copper entered it and caused
untold damage to his insides. Mark bundled the shirt into a
plastic bag and threw it into the boot of his car. He left and
went back to check on Annie. Annie was at home, still in shock
but doing much better. The doctor assured her that there was
nothing that she could do for him and that she should go home and
rest.

The next day they were greeted by Clint as they walked into his
hospital room. He in better condition than the previous day. They
tried to enquire how he was feeling. He seemed a bit uneasy, just
brushing off most of the questions. He asked Annie if she would
go and get him a fruit juice? Mark said he would, but Clint said
he needed to talk to him, she must please leave them alone for a
while. When Annie left, Clint seemed a bit shy, "Mark, … did you
uh… get my… uh shirt for me?" This was strange Mark Thought, he
shirt was in his car, "Yes, it is in my car" he replied. "Mark…
please do me a favour… um… don't ask me why… uh just do what I am
about to ask you… uh… destroy that shirt for me please… don't ask
me anything just destroy it."

Mark was baffled, why would this shirt be haunting Clint like
this? It was a memory that should be kept, something to talk
about to his kids and something to brag about to his grandkids.
Mark respected his wishes, "Okay my buddy, I will destroy it for
you", Mark thought that it must be a way of coming to terms with
what had happened or putting closure to it. With that Annie
entered the room again, visibly happy… "The doctor just caught me
in the passage, he has great news. The bullet made a clean exit
and the damage to your insides seems limited to the left side, he
wants to see your medical records for a follow up operation and
then you are good to go." That was great news.

A week later they received even better news, the bullet had
actually torn through the intestines where the cancer was, this
meant that the follow up operation was going to remove the
cancer, and repair all the damaged intestines. Because this was
an Injured On Duty incident all further operations to the
affected area would be covered by the Medical aid. This news
seemed to help them forget about the trauma they had all been
through a week earlier. This meant that he would not only make a
full recovery but come out cancer free and everything was
covered…, what more could they ask for?

Two months later, Mark came to visit Clint at home. Mark seemed
on edge, he knew that everthing was over and that things had
worked out for the best, but something was tugging at Mark.
"Clint, how you feeling?" Mark asked. "I am doing just fine
buddy, how you doing?". Mark was trying his hardest to keep his
composure "I am doing okay…" But Mark was troubled and the
nagging feeling he had was all focused on one person, Clint.
"Clint, I am going to ask you something and I want a straight
answer" Mark said. Clint looked a bit uneasy, but confirmed that
he would give him a answer.

Mark said "You remember the day you were shot?" "Yes" Clint
replied. "Well you called me into the room after your operation
and asked me to do something thing for you, the next day you
asked me to do the very same thing… do you remember what you
asked me?" Clint was silent for a while then replied "Yes I do."
Mark said " you asked me to find your shirt you were wearing when
you were shot and destroy it." "Yes" Clint replied "Did you do
what I asked you to do?"

Mark started "Well Clint I did find your shirt." Clint looked
relieved and asked "Did you destroy it?" The answer that came out
of Mark mouth looked like it hurt Clint physically. "NO, I did
not" Clint seemed to be swallowing sand, his words did not want
to come out. Mark continued "I was speaking to the detectives,
they say that there was no sign anywhere of spent cartridges,
foot prints, vehicle tracks or any indication of someone else
being around you when you were shot, they have now given this
some thought and come up with the same version as what you
offered them, that you think it was a sniper. Especially since
the bullet exited your body, it means it was a high powered rifle
or a very close courters shot"

Clint seemed shaken by the direction Mark was heading with these
statements he was making and said "Well that is what I said and
that is what the investigation has proven, so what is the
problem?" Mark looked at Clint and said "I know what happened
Clint, how could you do it?" Clint tried to keep it together "How
could I do what Mark?" "I had a look at you shirt Clint, it has
powder burns on it, POWDER BURNS!!!, How can it have powder burns
on it if you were taken out by a sniper?" Clint was becoming
anaemic loosing colour with every word out of Mark's mouth. Mark
was distressed, he felt betrayed and lied to.

Clint took a deep breath and said "Mark you don't know what we
have been though the last few months, the cancer, the burden of
knowing that I will run up hospital bills and probably die
leaving Annie with all the debt" Clint took a second before
continuing "I could not do that to her, it is not her fault, I
had to do something… I researched on the internet where the vital
organs are in the body and researched how to inflict a wound on
myself without causing death. It was all that I could do, the
medical aid would not cover my hereditary illness and this was
the only other way, so that day I went out to the location I
chose, called for assistance, and when I was sure that you guys
had arrived laid over my firearm and pulled the trigger…"